Local soldier killed in Afghanistan

By Larissa Theodore, Times Staff

Thursday

Jul 23, 2009 at 12:01 AM

NEW SEWICKLEY TWP. — Donna Rimer promised she would wear her son Joshua’s dog tags around her neck until he came home from serving overseas. She wore them when he left for Iraq in January and kept them on when he was sent to Afghanistan two months later.

Now, she plans to wear them forever.

On Wednesday night, two Army soldiers walked up the front steps at the Rimer’s two-story home on Reno Street Extension in New Sewickley Township and told the family that Army Sgt. Joshua Rimer had been killed in Afghanistan.

Thursday should have been a good day. Rimer’s younger sister, Shannon, a student at Penn State, came home to celebrate her 21st birthday.

Instead, with laughter and tears, the family was marking a milestone they never wanted to observe.

“We love him very much,” said Donna Rimer as tears welled up in her eyes. “We don’t know what our life is going to be like without him. It just doesn’t seem to make sense right now.”

Rimer, 24, a 2003 graduate of Freedom Area High School, joined the military right after graduation and spent three years in Iraq on his first tour of duty. After re-enlisting for another four years, he continued to serve in Iraq until February, when his entire battalion was transferred to Afghanistan.

Rimer was serving with the 82nd Engineer Battalion and traveling in an escort vehicle for a convoy when he was killed Wednesday by an improvised explosive device, his father, Jim, said.

“He was a hero,” Jim Rimer said. “He served his country, and his family is proud of him.”

Jim Rimer said his son, a gunner on one of the escort vehicles, was due to be discharged in March. Rimer was stationed in Fort Carson, Colo., and lived with his wife, Annalisa, in Colorado Springs.

Rimer last spoke to his wife of nearly two years by video conference on Tuesday. And Donna Rimer said she last spoke to her son on Saturday.

He told his mother that he missed his wife and loved her. Donna said her son didn’t talk much about what he was witnessing in Afghanistan.

“But he did tell me it’s very dangerous there, with a lot of bombs and IEDs,” she said.

Rimer was not a stranger to danger. He earned a Purple Heart medal during his first tour in Iraq in 2004 after receiving shrapnel wounds to the neck.

“We were very proud of him,” Donna Rimer said.

Rimer was supposed to come home for a two-week leave in September and family members purchased tickets and made arrangements to fly to Colorado Springs to see him. Today, they’ll fly to Philadelphia and will be picked up by military personnel and transported to Dover Air Force Base to await the arrival of their son’s body.

“I remember my brother as being a fun-loving person who had the best personality you’d ever meet,” said Shannon Rimer, who planned for her brother to be in her wedding next year. “He was always the center of attention. That’s who Joshua was.”

Keith Kovalic, director of music at Freedom High School, said he remembers Rimer, who played trumpet, and was in band and chorus. A leader early on, Kovalic said Rimer, a tall, thin, but strong, kid, was always willing to help out younger students as well as his teacher.

When the district performed the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” in 2001, there was one male role that Kovalic had open. Rimer stepped up and took the role, which became one of Kovalic’s favorite musicals and one of his favorite memories.

“There’s so many people in our community right now that are just hurting,” Kovalic said. “… Josh represented our community so well. He was a positive, positive kid. You could not dislike him.”

His cousin, Amy Nichols of Bakerstown, said Rimer played the trumpet at her wedding in 2001. She celebrated her anniversary three days ago, and said she fondly remembered Rimer holding her newborn daughter for the first time when he came home for Christmas.

“There are lots of things going through my head,” Nichols said somberly.

In addition to his wife, parents and sister, Rimer leaves behind his grandparents, Effie Rimer of Patterson Township, and Russell and Jane Wright of New Sewickley.

Funeral arrangements are still being set. A military funeral will likely take place in Colorado, but the family plans to have a local memorial service.

Larissa Theodore can be reached online at ltheodore@timesonline.com.

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